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We know that gaming has grown since the dawn of the previous console generation practically a decade ago, and as such, retailers such as are predicting that the launch showdown between the PS4 and Xbox One will be the largest the industry has ever seen.

Speaking on a Q2 investor call yesterday, GameStop CEO Paul Raines said that he expects a "significant increase" in launch sales over the last generation, and that this will be the "largest console launch in history." What he did not do was pick a sales winner between the two warring units.

Gamestop President Tony Bartel didn't share pre-order numbers, but did reveal that 1.5M people are on the "first to know" list for the PS4, while 700,000 are for the Xbox One. Whether that translates into sales is yet to be seen, but has done their best to at least somewhat level the playing field over the past two months with policy reversals and a strong launch games line-up.

As it stands, the biggest difference between the two consoles remains PS4's $399 price point while Xbox One remains at $499, due to the inclusion of Kinect. I predicted that this difference would also disappear, as after the news that the Xbox One does not need the Kinect to operate, it stood to reason that it didn't necessarily need to be sold with the system either.

But Gamescom announcements have come and gone, and the Kinect still remains attached to the system, price-wise, if not literally any more. Out of all the policy reversals, this would probably be the hardest to swallow for Microsoft. They want so desperately for everyone to have a Kinect, try it, and love it, which is why they're married to the idea of requiring it to be purchased with the system. But you can't really force technology on people that they're simply not all that interested in. It would be like if they made Windows cost $200 more a few years back, and it came tied to a Zune.

With a few months to go until this "biggest launch ever," I still believe there's time for them to announce a Kinect-free unit. If they don't, we may see those "first to know" numbers translate into a very real sales disparity, despite all the other reversals so far.